You can now buy luxury $1,000 chicken wings that have been dipped in gold

Feature by Thomas Lethbridge

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Everyone has their own idea of luxury food. Whether it’s foie gras in France, caviar in the Caucasus or truffles in Tuscany, different people prize different qualities, creating a bewildering set of treats made from some of the earth’s most unusual ingredients. If opulent meals mean anything, it’s that one man’s trash is another’s treasure.

Credit: Science of Cooking

Though there have always been universal luxury foods that the whole world has been willing to splash ridiculous amounts of cash on for centuries, recent years have seen chefs look to more unusual ways of making dinner decadent. Typically, this means throwing anything and everything that’s vaguely shiny and/or sparkly at a plate and seeing what sticks. Oysters are so outdated.

Because most of these ‘ingredients’ have little or no taste and are essentially all about the look, the result is an array of totally transformed, traditionally cheap eats. Nothing says indulgent like paying $100 for something that should cost 10. Though there are exceptionally extra examples of this approach to menu making all over the world, one restaurant group in New York may just have taken the gold-plated biscuit.

Credit: purelux

American food blogger and regular Kardashian collaborator Jonathan Cheban, also known by the superior pseudonym “Food God”, has managed to create what is believed to be the most expensive plate of chicken wings on the planet. Now available at The Ainsworth chain of restaurants, the dish comes in either 10, 20 or 50-piece platters, ranging in price from $45 t0 $1000. The 50-piece option also comes with a magnum of Ace of Spades champagne.

You might think it’s impossible to justify spending $1,000 on a wing. However, a quick glance at the ingredients list is all you need to tell you that this is no ordinary plateful. The wings are brined for 24-hours, before being fried in flour mixed with gold dust, coated in gold coconut butter and chipotle honey sauce and served with a gourmet bleu cheese sauce. And, obviously, more gold dust.

Though the added extra metal is what gives his creation the wow factor, even Cheban is quick to point out that when it comes to flavour, gold really brings nothing to the party. Talking to The Takeout, Cheban explained that, “It’s just for show because it’s very decadent,” before adding, “Gold just makes it that much more fun”.

Though these exorbitant poultry pieces could well be the most ludicrously expensive food on the planet, they are by no means the only dinner that can break the bank. A restaurant in Australia has released a new $90 hamburger that comes complete with a gold plated bun and gold infused sauce. Clearly, some chefs are taking a very literal approach to creating sparkling food.

Credit: phatstacks

Despite the eye-watering price tags, the growing prevalence of luxury menu items like these shows that there is a sizeable food audience with more money than sense. As a once in a lifetime experience, there’s no real harm in indulging in a gold-drizzled chicken wing. When that wing might well have cost more than your trip to New York, however, it might be time to reevaluate your dinner priorities.